


Stark's angel

by Shadowhunter_Artemis



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Daddy Stark, F/M, Family, Iron Man 1, Nephilim
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2020-03-08 03:24:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18886186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowhunter_Artemis/pseuds/Shadowhunter_Artemis
Summary: The voice of the voiceless. A guardian angel. That’s what Jessica Stark has been known as, the complete opposite of her father. However, there may be hope yet when she and Tony make the shocking discovery that the Ten Rings have got Stark Weapons courtesy of Obadiah Stane.





	1. Jessica Stark

**Name:** Jessica Stark

 **Nicknames:** Jess (most), Jessie (most), angel/my angel (Tony), Miss Stark (Pepper), little girl (Obadiah), Babe (Josh)

 **Hair:** ginger

 **Eyes:** green

 **Species:** Nephilim

**Face claim:** Katherine McNamara

**Powers and abilities:**

Strength – Jessica is far stronger than the average human, on par with Steve Rogers. However, she isn’t a strong as an Asguardian or the Hulk.

Durability – being a Nephilim she is a little more durable however she is capable of being injured.

Force-field generation – creation of a shield or wall through the manipulation of energy.

Energy blast – generation of energy which can be used as projectiles or as a shock wave. Jessie’s energy blasts appear as a golden light.

Healing – Jessica has the gift to heal people however, she does have a limits.

Senses - heightened senses allow her to be extremely aware of her surroundings. These can come in handy in little no light.

Agility – Jessica can be at times very agile which is handy in a combat situation.

Combat – at her father’s insistence, she has been trained in the art of self defence by Happy. Although she quickly showed that she had a natural talent, much to Tony’s relief. Despite this fact, he still remained very protective of his daughter.

Intellect – Jessica inherited her father’s smarts and is often doing puzzles to challenge her mind. She doesn’t approve of her father using his intellect to create weapons. Jessica also uses hers to be a voice for the voiceless, the animals…people in third world countries with very little. More than often she’s been dubbed the ‘guardian angel’ by those in need.

 

**Equipment:**

Stark-phone

Laptop/tablet

Walter PPK/S

Taser disks – Black Widow gives her these in IM2 so she can protect herself and if needs be, stop her father from doing something crazy as the Palladium slowly kills him.

Black Widow’s Bite – Black Widow also gifted Jessica one of her stun bracelets for the same purpose as the Taser Disks.

Seraph Blade – Jessica discovers the blade in her room prior to Avengers. The pattern and symbols glow blue due to her angel heritage.

Dual Kindjals – smaller versions of the Seraph Blade. One to be used in each hand.

**Family:**

Tony Stark (father)

Celeste (mother, currently out of the picture)

Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan (bodyguard and surrogate uncle)

James Rhodes (surrogate uncle)

Pepper Potts (carer/guardian)

**Pairing:**

Joshua ‘Josh’ Lockwood (current boyfriend)

Steve Rogers (eventual love interest)


	2. weapons testing

_I really shouldn’t be here_ 18 year old, Jessica thought watching her father move to the front of the crowd of generals and military officials. She hated the fact that Stark Industries were creating weapons that were being used to wage war. With all the money and technology and knowhow, you’d think that her playboy billionaire father would use it to build schools or housing, create systems for safe drinking water, help with food shortages. But no. He went down the weapons industry instead. So she took it upon herself to use the Stark name and turn it into something good.

She spoke at out campaigns for global warming, children in third world countries and other such causes which she felt were extremely worthwhile. She also organised rallies and charity events for them. This caused her to gain a fair amount of publicity, many articles stating that she was a ‘voice for the voiceless’. Several people who’ve been interviewed over the work she did with these charities and organisations had dubbed her ‘a guardian angel’. Jessica was flattered by the moniker but in all honesty she wasn’t helping people just to earn that name. No, she was helping people because she genuinely wanted to.

“Is it better to be feared or respected?” Tony asked rhetorically “I say, is it too much to ask for both?” _Yes dad, it IS too much to ask for both_ Jessica thought to herself _I’d rather be respected than feared_. “With that in mind I humbly represent the crown jewel of the Stark Industries Freedom Line. It’s the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire _once_. That’s how dad did it. That’s how America does it. And its worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain and I personally guarantee you the bad guys wont even come out of their caves” he gestured to one of the soldiers that was remotely controlling the weapon that was about to be tested. They all watched one of the missiles fire into the air before breaking off into several smaller missiles “for your consideration, the Jericho”. The mini weapons rained down on the mountainside, causing multiple explosions. The shockwave swept over the area bringing a big gust of dust causing them all to shield their faces.

As soon as the dust settled, Jessica headed over to one of the Humvees. She didn’t want to stick around any longer than she had to. “Miss Stark?” a male voice spoke up. Jessica turned to see a  solider in his 30’s standing there. “Sorry to bother you ma’am but I was wondering if it would be ok to get a picture with you? Its for my daughter, she’s a big fan of yours”, he explained.

“Of course”, Jessica said. She moved to stand next to him and smiled while he snapped a selfie with his digital camera.

“This is really gonna make her day”, the solider said happily “because of you, Emily wants to look after marine animals when she grows up”.

The ginger felt a surge of pride at the fact that she’d inspired someone, a daughter of a solider no less. Jessica fished in her bag for her notepad and pen and pulled them out. She flipped to a clean page and wrote a quick note.

_Dear Emily_

_The turtles and dolphins would be lucky to have an amazing girl such as yourself looking after them_

_Lots of love_

_Jessica Stark_

_XX_

She tore the page off and gave it to the solider who smiled at the note. “Thank you”, he said sincerely.

“You’re welcome”, Jessica said. She then jotted some information onto another piece of paper “here’s my email. If your daughter is really interested in that kind of career, she can get in touch. I’ve got some contacts in that area so it’ll be no problem to arrange an internship or something”.

“I…don’t know what to say”, the solider admitted, touched that she’d written a note to his baby girl AND even offering to help with his daughter’s career.

“No need to say anything”, Jessica said “I’m always willing to help”.

“Jess! We gotta go!” Tony hollered from the inside of one of the Humvees.

“Be right there!” Jessica called back “I’ve got to go but it was a pleasure meeting you…”

“Captain William Lennox”, the man supplied, holding his hand out.

“It was a pleasure meeting you Captain Lennox”, Jessica said, shaking it “I look forward to hearing from you and your daughter” and with that she headed back over to the Humvee that she’d been standing by prior to getting asked for a picture by Captain Lennox. She got into it and closed the door.

What happened about 20 minutes later was what Jessica would describe as utter chaos. There were explosions and gunfire. Soldiers shouting orders at one another. Jessica flung open the door to the Humvee and got out, flinching when she heard bullets striking the vehicle. “Dad”, she breathed seeing him make a break for some rocks. Jessica started to follow after him when all of a sudden she was thrown backward by the force of a nearby explosion. The ginger scrambled to her feet and hurried over, gasping when she saw her father lying on the ground, pools of blood appearing through his shirt. “Daddy!” she cried falling to the floor next to him, taking hold of his hand “you’re gonna be ok. Just stay with me”, she pleaded.

“Jess…run…” Tony whispered, feeling his eyelids grow heavy.

Jessica shook her head “I’m not leaving you”, she said adamantly “you drive me crazy but you’re all I have and I would never abandon you. Never”.

“I love you Jessie”, Tony managed to say, his daughter’s tear streaked face being the last thing he saw before he succumbed to the pain, blacking out.


	3. Captured by the Ten Rings

 

Jessica’s knee jiggled up and down, eyes anxiously trained on her unconscious father. The operation to remove the pieces of shrapnel had been touch and go for a while but more or less a success. The only problem was that there were still some shards that they couldn’t remove from his chest without killing him so Yinsen, a fellow prisoner cobbled together an electromagnet to prevent the shrapnel from going into his heart. The man had warned her that even though the device was keeping him alive, there was a high chance that Tony could still die within the week.

It hurt the ginger knowing that she could very well lose her father in seven days or less. She wished there was something she could do to extend that time. Unfortunately not even her gift of healing could save him as there was a very high risk that she’d end up killing him instead. She bit her lip, suppressing her sobs as tears appeared in her eyes. She hated feeling helpless! She hated not being able to do anything to save him!

Yinsen placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. He understood a daughter’s love for her father for he once had a daughter of his own before she was cruelly taken from him. “Your father will pull through”, he said gently.

“How do you know?” Jessica asked, her voice trembling, tears slowly rolling down her face.

“He’s got something to fight for…to live for”, Yinsen answered. Jessica nodded, knowing that he was talking about her being that something. She wiped away the tears with palm of her hand.

“And I will fight for him too”, she said with as much confidence as she could muster “nobody is taking my dad away from me. Not without a fight”.  

“Keep that thought in your mind during these next few days”, Yinsen suggested.

“10-4 Yinsen”, Jessica said. Yinsen removed his hand from her shoulder and went over to a table to start preparing food for the extra two guests. Just then Tony gasped awake, Jessica at his side in a flash.

“J-Jess”, he rasped, staring up at his daughter. He reached up toward her face, his eyes widening when his fingers came into contact with skin. “I’m…not dead?” he said, it coming out more of a question than a statement.

Jessica shook her head “no, you’re not dead. You’re very much alive thanks to Yinsen”, she pointed over to the foreign man, Tony following her gaze. He then tried to sit up, Jessica quickly stopping him. “You shouldn’t move too much”, she warned glancing over at the car battery that he was currently hooked up to. Tony glanced over at it too, following the wires down to his chest. Jessica watched him tear off the bandages and stare horrified at the device implanted in his chest. “It’s an electromagnet. Yinsen had to put it in you to stop some of the shrapnel from making its way into your heart”, Jessica explained, her voice cracking at the end.

Tony pushed himself up as much as he could without jolting the battery which was too far for him to reach, pressing his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. “Its gonna be ok”, he whispered, feeling splashes on his face where some of Jessica’s tears had fallen.

Suddenly a hatch in the large metal door slid open with a loud clang making father and daughter break apart. A male voice spoke in a language that Jessica and Tony couldn’t understand but it seemed that Yinsen did as he came over to them, moving the battery to Tony’s side. “Just do as I do”, he told them both before helping Tony up “put your hands up”, Yinsen instructed as the doors were pulled open. Tony and Jessica didn’t hesitate for a moment doing as he said.

Several people in camouflage walked in, lead by a heavy set bearded man. Jessica frowned at the weapons they were carrying. They were Stark issue. Tony had noticed the same and said quietly “those are my guns. How did they get my guns?”

“Do you understand me? Do as I do”, Yinsen repeated, effectively shutting up Tony at least for the moment. The bearded man stopped in front of the trio and began to speak, his words being lost on both Tony and Jessica. That is until Yinsen translated for them.

“He says ‘welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America. And Jessica Stark, the guardian angel to those in need’” the man, Abu Bakar, showed them a picture of the Jericho missile “’he wants you to build the missile’”, Yinsen said continuing to translate. Tony looked at the picture of the weapon he’d demonstrated and then at Bakar.

“I refuse”, he said firmly. His answer had both himself and Jessica dragged to a container of cold water where the teenager’s head shoved underneath. Jessica thrashed against the many hands holding her down as she unintentionally swallowed water. She could’ve thrown them off if she was at full strength but she currently wasn’t due to having fought their captors in a desperate attempt to protect her father which resulted in her being beaten until knocked out and then Yinsen having drugged her to stop her from interfering with Tony’s operation.

They kept her down for only a few seconds until… “alright stop!” Tony shouted “I’ll do it”. The men yanked Jessica upright, the teenager coughing up lungful’s of water as she gasped for air.  

She didn’t have time to recover before a canvas bag was shoved over her head and was roughly ushered somewhere else.  

\---------

Jessica blinked several times when the bag was finally pulled off her head, exposing her eyes to the sunlight. Having been in a cave lit only by electric light, the sunlight was almost blinding. She and Tony didn’t have much time to be accustomed to it when they where pushed forward, Jessica grabbing her father’s arm when he stumbled. She walked with him down the path, eyeing the massive amount of ordinates owned by Stark Industries.

Abu Bakar spoke, Yinsen not needing any urging to translate “He wants to know what you think”.

“I think you got a lot of my weapons”, Tony calmly replied.

The Arabic man spoke again “He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials and you’ll start working immediately. Once you’re done he will set you and your daughter free”, Yinsen translated verbatim.

Tony and Jessica exchanged looks. They both knew the man was lying. He would never let them go even if he did comply. However, Tony shook Abu Bakar’s hand in agreement, his mind already working on an escape plan.

He and Jessica may not agree on a lot of things but he be damned if he was going to let his little girl die in these godforsaken mountains. To pull it off, he was going to need a lot more than a week so he was going to need a much better device than the one currently keeping him alive. Perhaps a mini arc reactor?


	4. Of mini arc reactors and Mark One suits

 

The next few days were a flurry of activity with men coming and going with tools, equipment materials…including a number of missiles. Tony directed them to where he wanted them to be, Yinsen doing his best to translate the American’s orders. Jessica did what she could to help, avoiding lifting the heavier objects as to not give away the fact that she was far stronger than she looks. And it had been coming back to her, slowly which delighted the ginger to no end. Once everything had been set up the way Tony wanted, he got to work with creating his mini arc reactor. Jessica had a fair bit of input too, in fact she’d given him the answer to a little problem he was having through a small doodle on his design. Weapons she had an issue with but the Arc Reactor? She liked that as it was a potential way to produce energy in a much more cleaner and sustainable way. Jessica had often wished that her dad delve into that aspect more and in a way he kinda was by making it smaller to replace the electromagnet in his chest.

\------------

One day after they had breakfast or as Jessica liked to call it, a bowl of slop, they got to work on breaking down the missiles. Neither one of them had told Yinsen what they were doing in case he was interrogated over the work. They didn’t want him to get into trouble for concealing anything from their captors.

“How many languages do you speak?” Tony asked watching Jessica carefully unscrew the bolts one of the missiles.

“A lot”, Yinsen replied “but not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian”.

“Get a few more people speaking other languages and they could do a bad guy’s version of _It’s A Small World_ ”, Jessica joked, undoing the last screw.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to pitch it to them”, Tony said, taking over by removing the cap “I don’t think these people have any sense of humour” he pulled out the inner workings of the missile, setting it onto the table.

“Probably right dad”, Jessica agreed “who ARE our oh so lovely hosts then?” she asked Yinsen.

“They are your father’s loyal customers”, Yinsen answered “they call themselves the Ten Rings”. Jessica just about stopped herself from making a remark about the Christmas song.

“Jess start getting the palladium from the other missiles”, Tony instructed. The ginger nodded and went over to the workbench, picking up an electric drill before going over to the nearest missile. Tony did the same, Yinsen following him.

“You know, we might be more productive if you and Jessica were to include me in the planning process”, the man commented.

“Uh huh”, Tony said pulling off the cap from the missile and getting out the chip rack cylinder. He went over to one of the work table and carefully extracting the palladium from it.

“Is that palladium?” Yinsen asked, surmising that this was what Tony wanted his daughter to get from the other missiles.

“It is”, Tony confirmed “this is about 0.15 grams and we need at least 1.6 so go help Jess break down the other 11”. Yinsen nodded and got to work. While he and Jessica were removing the palladium, Tony got to work on the rest of the mini arc reactor. Soon the 1.6 grams of metal was being melted down and carefully poured onto the thin metal ring. Jessica and Yinsen watched Tony put together the mini arc reactor. The ginger held her breath as he father powered it up, fingers crossed that it was going to work. The science and the math was sound but that didn’t mean that something couldn’t go wrong with it.

“Yes”, Jessica breathed, utterly relieved that the device powered up and stayed on. Tony glanced at his daughter, seeing the look of relief on her face. He too was glad it worked. This meant he didn’t have to rely on the car battery anymore. It also meant that he’d just bought them the time they needed to build the suit he was going to use to get them out of their prison.

Yinsen frowned at the mini arc reactor.

“That doesn’t look like a Jericho missile”, he stated.

“That’s because its not. It’s a miniaturised arc reactor”, Jessica answered giving her father’s shoulder a happy squeeze “there’s a much large one powering the factory back home”.

“And it should keep the shrapnel out of my heart”, Tony added.

“What could it generate?” Yinsen questioned.

“Well, if my math is right, three gigajoules per second”, Tony replied.

“That could warm your heart for 50 lifetimes”, Yinsen stated.

“Or something big for 15 minutes”, Tony countered. He then showed Yinsen and his teenaged daughter the plans he’d made. Jessica stared at the drawings. She hated to admit it, it was might impressive and if they were able to build it with the stuff they had, it would definitely be their ticket out of this hell hole.

Before they could get started on Tony’s new project, there was the matter of replacing the electromagnet with the arc reactor. Jessica sat by Tony, holding onto his hand to give him some assurance while Yinsen worked quickly to expertly remove the electromagnet and place the arc reactor in its place. The foreign man stepped back when he was done and the ginger helped her father sit up. “How do you feel?” she asked.

“Much better”, Tony replied “Now lets get to work”.

\--------

Days turned into weeks. Weeks became months. And every waking hour was spent working on Tony’s suit. Jessica helped with some of the metal work, discretely bending some of the tougher pieces into place but primarily she stuck to the more intricate work given that she had the smallest hands out of the three of them. She, Tony and Yinsen worked at a steady yet comfortable pace to get the suit done.

Then one day they were forced to work harder when Yinsen was threatened by Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings. He gave them a deadline of 24 hours before he left the room. So Tony, Jessica and Yinsen worked through the night and into the early hours of the morning until the suit was finally ready.

While Tony got himself into it with Yinsen’s help, Jessica got busy rigging the door with explosives. She tried hard not to see the irony in what she was doing. She was someone who abhorred violence…who was so against what her father did for a living and yet here she was messing around with explosives. She really hoped that she that this experience wasn’t going to permanently affect the views that she’d so adamantly supported.


	5. Escape!

“Jess come over here. I need you to initialise the start-up sequence”, Tony said when his daughter had just finished setting the charges. The ginger went over to the screen.

“Ok, I’m ready”, Jessica said, fingers poised over the keyboard. Before Tony could tell her, the hatch in the door slid back. A man spoke but all Jessica and Tony could understand was their names. “Yinsen say something”, Jessica hissed out of the corner of mouth as she face the door, casually leaning on the table.

“He’s speaking Hungarian! I don’t know Hungarian”, Yinsen told her and Tony quietly, slightly flustered as he was trying to secure Tony into the suit.

“Just say something”, Tony urged. Yinsen huffed but shouted something back to the man. It seemed whatever he had said, the man at the door didn’t seem to buy as he proceeded to open the door only for it the explode outward.

“Holy shit”, Jessica cursed.

“I take it that it worked”, Tony stated.

“You can say that again”, Jessica said “but now we’ve got even less time cos that’s gonna bring even more people here” she turned back to the screen “how do we start it up?”

“Function 11” Jessica hit the button and a progress bar appeared on the screen.

“Ok, we got a progress bar”, she reported.

“Now press Control and I then hit enter”, Tony instructed. Jessica did as he said and saw the progress bar slowly filling up with green.

“It’s started”, she told her father. Jessica turned to watch Yinsen drilling in the remaining bolts as quickly as he can. It wasn’t long before they heard people shouting and running up the passage towards the room. “They’re gonna be here before you’re fully powered up”, Jessica warned eyeing the progress bar as it moved far too slowly for her liking.

“I’ll buy you two some time”, Yinsen said.

“Yinsen, no. We stick to the plan”, Jessica said quickly but the man just ignored her, hurrying over to the doorway and picking up one of the fallen insurgent’s weapons.

“Yinsen!” Jessica and Tony shouted together as he disappeared along the passage, firing the gun. The ginger wanted to go after him but she couldn’t leave her father vulnerable. So she turned back to the screen, eyeing the bar nervously.

“Come on. Come on”, she urged as it crawled along.

“What’s it at?” Tony asked.

“60”, Jessica replied.

“Ok, come over here”, Tony ordered. Jessica did as he said, grasping his leather gloved hand “when the lights go out, stay close to me”, he said and the teenager nodded. Father and daughter watched the progress bar creep closer and closer toward 100% until finally it got there. Tony gave Jessica’s hand a squeeze before he let go, the lights going out, plunging the pair into darkness save for the light being emitted from the mini arc reactor in Tony’s chest. Jessica wasn’t too worried about the dark having heightened senses that allowed her to see with the lights out.

The ginger sank low to the ground, sticking close to the rig that held Tony’s suit, as a few insurgents entered. She watched her father make short work of the three that had come into the room, creating a shield to protect herself from any of the stray bullets that got a little too close to her as they ricocheted off of Tony’s metal suit and other objects in the room.

“Jess, lets go”, Tony said and she darted out of her hiding place to join him at the doorway “stay behind me”, he told her and she gave him a nod to say she understood. Though she had powers that she could use to protect herself, thanks to her angel heritage, she was by no means invincible. And Tony would never forgive himself if she got hurt so she decided to do as he said and stay behind him.

 He walked swiftly forward, Jessica sticking as close to him as possible, deflecting the bullets that would possibly hit her as he father took on more insurgents. Jessica hung back while Tony bashed down two thick metal doors which it didn’t take him long to do. He swung his arm, hitting knocking an insurgent to the ground. Unfortunately he got his arm stuck in the rock wall. As he was trying to free it, another insurgent took the opportunity to walk up to him and attempt to put a bullet in his head. And by attempt…well lets just say he didn’t get very far as Jessica intervened, shoving him backward, hard. He hit the rock wall and crumpled to the ground. She then freed Tony’s metal arm from where it was stuck in the wall.

“Thanks Jess”, Tony said and they continued on. As they neared the entrance of the caves, Raza was waiting for them with an RPG. When they came into view, he fired. Jessica acting quickly, stepped out from behind her father and threw up a shield. The rocket exploded on impact, throwing Jessica back into Tony who barely moved in his metal suit. He pushed her behind him and retaliated with a small missile of his own. The projectile hit the wall near Raza, some of the burning debris catching the man across the face. He cried out, falling to the floor.

“Yinsen!” Jessica exclaimed having spotted their fellow prisoner, slumped over in a corner. He wasn’t moving. She rushed over to him and felt for a pulse. Jessica’s eyes closed when she couldn’t find one. He was dead. The teen looked up at her father, eyes shining with tears for their fallen friend. No words were necessary to convey what had happened.

“We gotta go”, Tony told her, doing his best to remain calm even though he was furious.

Jessica nodded “yeah”, she sniffled, wiping away a few tears “you’re in a better place now Yinsen”, she murmured quietly, standing up. In an ideal world she would want to take his body back to wherever he came from so that he could be buried by his people. But they were in the middle of a hostile area so all she and her father could was leave him behind. However, Jessica was going to make sure that Yinsen was not going to be forgotten, that his death wasn’t going to be in vain.

Tony strode out of the cave, a single thought in his mind. Destroy his weapons and get his daughter out of this godforsaken place. Jessica placed a hand on his back and stretched out her other, projecting a shield in front of her father as the insurgents opened fire. The bullets bounced off the barrier, leaving Tony and Jessica unharmed.

“My turn”, Tony said when they ran out of bullets in their guns. Jessica dropped her shield allowing him to use his twin flamethrowers on any and all things in sight. Insurgents and his weapons went up in flames. “Hang on”, Tony said to Jessica who quickly grabbed onto the back of his suit tightly. He activated the jets that were attached to his legs and they took off into the sky. Jessica glanced down, watching the entire cache of weapons go up in one big fireball. _That’s one bloody big explosion_ she thought _nothing would survive that_.

The pair soared higher into the sky before the jets suddenly sputtered several times before giving out. Jessica and Tony freefell through the sky, bits of Tony’s suit flying everywhere, several pieces catching Jessica’s face and arms. Father and teenaged daughter landed on the sand with a thud.

Jessica coughed and spluttered, spitting out sand that had gotten into her mouth as she struggled to her feet. She stumbled over to Tony and helped him out of the remnants of his suit. She then yanked him easily out of the sand and the two of them started to walk.

It soon became clear that they’d literally come out of the frying pan and into the fire as the sun beat relentlessly down on them as they walked. Exposed skin dotted with burns, heads swathed in their jackets, throats parched…begging for water and still they pushed on. Eventually they got to the point where Jessica was all but holding her father upright, though she could feel her legs were about to go any second.

And then they heard a wonderful sound of a helicopter. Big tired grins appeared on their faces as not one but _two_ went overhead. They were safe at last! Tony and Jessica collapsed onto the sand, leaning on one another as one of the helicopters touched down. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, rushed up to the pair, dropping down onto the sand in front of them. “Next time you both ride with me, ok?” he said. Tony and Jessica didn’t say anything, they were both too exhausted from the ordeal. Rhodey hugged his best friend and niece, overjoyed that they’d been found at last.


	6. Tony's shocking announcement

The next thing Jessica knew, she was waking up in a hospital bed and Tony was nowhere in sight. “Dad”, the ginger said sitting bolt upright. She tried to get out of the bed when a pair of dark skinned hands stopped her.

“Take it easy Jessie”, a familiar voice said. Jessica looked up to see Rebecca Marshall standing there.

“Becca”, the teen said rather relived to see a familiar face “where are we? And where’s dad?”

“You’re at the army base”, Rebecca replied “and your dad is fine. The doctors are just checking him out, making sure he’s ok. You’re both really lucky to be alive”.

“Yeah, lucky”, Jessica said muttered “we got out and…Yinsen didn’t”. Rebecca sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Who’s Yinsen?” she asked.

“He was another prisoner”, Jessica said quietly “It was all my fault Becca…” the ginger started to tear up “I should’ve stopped him. If I had he would still be here”.

“Hey…” Rebecca said gently when Jessica broke down “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault”.

“You weren’t there Rebecca”, Jessica snapped.

“No, I wasn’t”, Rebecca said, keeping with the calm tone “but I do know that you and your father have been through months of hell. And you shouldn’t blame yourself for any of it, ok?” She placed a hand on her shoulder and Jessica nodded. Then Tony was wheeled into the room by Michael ‘Mickey’ Rhodes, Rhodey’s younger brother.

“Jess!” he exclaimed seeing her tear stained face “Ricky help me up” he ordered.

“It’s Mickey”, Mickey muttered but helped him stand up anyway. He took him over to Jessica’s bed and plonked him down on it. Immediately Tony hugged his daughter. Jessica clung onto him, sobbing.

“Its gonna be ok Jessie”, he said softly, stroking her hair “my angel”.

Several days later, saw Jessica and Tony flying back to America in a C-17. As the ramp slowly descended, Tony and Jessica stood up, the former supported by Rhodey while the latter was given a helping hand by Rebecca. When Tony noticed the gurney’s that were waiting for himself and Jessica, he had them sent away. He didn’t know about his daughter but he’d enough of lying around being poked and prodded by doctors.

“I can manage from here”, Jessica told Rebecca as they got closer to Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, Tony’s personal assistant. The teenager was really happy to see her, the older ginger was like a mother to her.

“You sure?” Rebecca asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure”, Jessica replied. The dark skinned woman let her go and she walked over to Pepper. “Those better be tears of joy Pepper”, Jessica remarked.

“Yes, they are”, the woman assured her before she gave her a hug “I’m so glad you and Tony are safe”.

“Me too”, Jessica agreed. Just then Tony walked up.

“Mr Stark”, Pepper greeted professionally though she was just as happy to see him as she was with Jessica.

“Miss Potts”, Tony greeted back “A few tears for the long lost boss?” he commented.

“Jess said something similar”, Pepper told him.

“They’re tears of joy, dad”, Jessica spoke up.

“Well, I hate job hunting”, Pepper stated.

“Yeah, vacation’s over”, Tony declared and with that they got into the back of the black car that was waiting for them. Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan, got into the drivers seat.

“Where to, sir?” Happy asked.

“Take us to the hospital please Happy”, Pepper answered.

“We’re not going to the hospital Pepper”, Jessica said firmly “I don’t know about you, dad, but I’ve frankly had enough of hospitals and doctor’s. And now I could kill for a cheese burger”.

“You and me both”, Tony agreed “Happy, cheese burger” he glanced at Pepper over Jessica’s head “and I’d like to call a press conference”.

“A press conference?” Pepper repeated.

“Why do you want one of those?” Jessica questioned, equally confused.

“You’ll see”, Tony replied. Jessica glanced over at Pepper wondering what her thoughts were but she was already on the phone.

By the time they’d reached  Stark Industries for the press conference, Jessica had finished her burger which she’d thoroughly enjoyed. It was the best food she had in three months. Which wasn’t hard considering they were forced to eat slop in the caves and the base food wasn’t that much better, though at least that was edible. Plus…she was allowed to have that Jell-O that always seemed to be served in hospitals, which she secretly liked.

Tony, Jessica and Pepper got out of the car, to the applause of Stark Industries employees and Obadiah Stane. Obadiah ushered the Stark’s into the building where they were faced by several reporters and their cameras.

He went behind the podium to speak but was surprised when Tony sat down on the floor in front of it with Jessica. “Would it be alright if everyone sat down?” Tony asked “that way I can see you…and it’s a little less formal…”

The reporters sat down, ready to hear what Tony had to say. Obadiah joined Tony and Jessica on the floor in front of the podium. “I never got to say goodbye to my father”, Tony said and Jessica took his hand knowing the subject of Howard was pretty sensitive for her dad “there were questions I would’ve asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts…”

 _Where is this going?_ Jessica thought.

“…Or maybe he was every inch the man that we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend and protect them. I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability” Tony glanced at Jessica “And that almost cost me the most precious thing in my life, my daughter”.

“Mr and Miss Stark!” a young male reporter spoke up. Jessica recognised him as Ben Johnston, an up and comer in the reporting world. He had good instincts and didn’t always focus on the models that her father was dating, unlike some reporters.

“Hey Ben!” she greeted cheerfully.

“What happened over there?” Ben asked.

Tony stood up, pulling Jessica to her feet as well as he was still holding onto her hand. He walked around the podium, letting go of her hand “I had my eyes opened. I came to realise that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that’s why effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such time I can decide what the future of this company will be”.

That had everyone in the room in a bit of an uproar, asking questions and talking over one another, demanding answers to that shocking statement. Jessica could only stare at her father, equal measures shocked and happy. For so long she had wanted him to do something besides making weapons and it appears he was having a change of heart. She only wished that they hadn’t been held captive for 3 months in that hellhole for him to change.


	7. Reunion with Josh

As soon as Jessica and Tony stepped through the door of Stark Mansion, they were greeted by the home’s AI, JARVIS.

**_Welcome home Mr Stark, Miss Stark_ **

“Glad to be back Jarvis”, Jessica said, shrugging off the borrowed jacket “I’m gonna go to my room and change into something that’s mine”. She started towards the stairs when Tony said

“Once you’re done, meet me in my workshop” Jessica turned to her father “and bring the notebooks on those ongoing projects of yours”.

“You’re really being serious. You want to do something other making weapons”, the ginger said.

Tony nodded “I do. You had the right idea all along”, he admitted “I just wish it didn’t take us being held hostage by the Ten Rings for three months for me to realise it. I’m so sorry, Jess”.

Jessica went over to her father and hugged him “no apology necessary daddy. Its not your fault we got kidnapped by those people”, she said and moved back “and we will get past this, together”. Jessica lightly squeezed his arm before she darted off upstairs.

The ginger stopped in the doorway of her bedroom, taking in the place she hadn’t seen in three months. It was pretty clean, cleaner than it should’ve been considering she hadn’t been around to do it. _Pepper must’ve had someone around to do the housekeeping_ Jessica thought moving into the room. She went over to her shelves where she had several file boxes on the different projects she’d done for charities both complete and incomplete. She considered a couple of the incomplete projects before she selected the red file box marked ‘Save the Children’. Jessica removed it from the shelf and set it onto her desk.

She then went to her drawers, pulling out an oversized t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Jessica quickly swapped her borrowed clothes for her own. She held up the ends of her ginger hair noting the split ends. She was going to have to get a trim soon. Making a mental note to pop to the hairdressers, she twisted her hair into a messy bun, securing it with a scrunchie. Jessica scooped up the file box from her desk and headed downstairs.

She stopped on the bottom step, file box falling out of her hands when she saw her boyfriend of two years Joshua, Josh, Lockwood standing next to her dad. The noise of the box falling onto the floor caught both of their attention. Before Jessica knew it, she and Josh were moving toward each other, hugging tightly. “I’m really glad you’re ok”, Josh mumbled, clinging onto his girlfriend. He’d been so worried about her when he had seen the news that she and Tony had been kidnapped in Afghanistan. So the moment he had seen the press conference on TV, he had hurried straight over.

“I’m gonna leave you two alone. But no funny business”, Tony said looking pointedly at the pair.

Jessica shot him a ‘really?’ look. She knew what he was implying. Tony just ignored it, picked up the file box from where it had fallen and went downstairs to his workshop. As soon as he was out of eyeshot, Josh kissed Jessica. “I love you Jessie”, he said.

“I love you too Josh”, Jessica countered. She moved back “you wanna sit outside?” she asked gesturing to the balcony where a few deckchairs were set out.

“Sure”, Josh said and the pair headed out to the balcony “so how are you doing?” he questioned sitting down on one of the deckchairs, tugging Jessica onto his lap.

“Honestly? I don’t know”, Jessica replied resting her head on his chest “all I know is that I want to put this behind me as quick as humanely possible”.

“And I’ll do whatever I can to help”, Josh promised. Jessica looked up at him and smiled, touched by his promise.

“Thank you”, she said.

“How about you and me do something tomorrow? Like a walk on the beach?” Josh suggested.

Jessica smiled again “I’d like that”, she said. The pair cuddled on the deckchair, Josh catching Jessica up on whats been happening in the past three months, tactfully avoiding the subject of hers and Tony’s kidnapping. Eventually they said their goodbyes about a couple of hours later, leaving on a kiss and a promise of a beach walk tomorrow. Jessica leaned against the now closed front door with a smile on her face. She stayed there for a minute before she pushed off from the door and made her way downstairs to her father’s workshop. There she and Tony delved into her file box, looking at her currently ongoing projects.

It felt rather surreal to Jessica as she sat at Tony’s desk, listening to her father and jotting down notes on the construction of a safe water drinking system of all things. For so long she’d wanted her dad to do anything else besides from making weapons. And here they were discussing ideas on helping the charities that she was involved with. They’d even started brainstorming ways on how to best honour their fallen friend Yinsen so that he would never be forgotten.

\---------

When Pepper came down to check on them hours later, father and daughter were fast asleep on the sofa, notebooks, paper and pencils scattered over the floor. The older ginger couldn’t help but smile at how Jessica’s head was on Tony’s shoulder and him with a protective arm around the teenager. It was nice to see as her boss wasn’t always the most affectionate when it came to Jessica. Yes, he did have a soft, caring side that was only reserved for the teenager but it very rarely came out as he was far too busy with his company or his numerous flings. And it seemed that their time in captivity while horrible, actually brought them closer. So Pepper could at least be grateful that some good may have indeed come out of an awful situation.

She picked up a blanket that had been chucked to the side of the room and gently draped it over the slumbering pair. Neither one of them stirred as she did this, thankfully. “Jarvis dim the lights”, she requested when she reached the door. The AI did as she asked, dimming the lights. Pepper looked back over at the sofa “goodnight Tony, Jessie”, she said quietly and left the room, closing the door behind her.


	8. Pool party goes wrong

 

Jessica skipped downstairs to her dad’s workshop to see him working away at the newest version of the mini arc reactor to replace the one he currently had in his chest. “That’s coming together nicely”, she commented.

“Thanks”, Tony said. He then noticed that she was wearing summery dress, prefect for the beach “Where are you off to?” he asked.

“I’m going for a walk on the beach with Josh”, Jessica replied “I won’t be gone long. An hour or two tops”, she promised.

“Ok”,  Tony said “be careful”.

“It’s just the beach near our house, I’ll be perfectly safe”, Jessica assured him “if you want, you can stop by and walk me home or we could do something…some father-daughter thing”, she suggested.

“Sounds good”, Tony said “I’ll see you in a couple of hours”. Jessica nodded and then left the workshop.

“See you later Pepper!” the young ginger called as she crossed the floor to the front door.

“Have fun!” Pepper called from where she sat on the sofa, working away on her laptop. Jessica pulled open the door to find her boyfriend standing on the other side along with their blonde haired friend, the occasional ditz, Camille Brooke and stereotypical jock, Ryan Fitzgerald.

“Hey, guys. What are you all doing here?” Jessica asked wondering why her friends had turned up.

“Well, I thought we’d change our plans. Stay here for a pool party”, Josh said “figured your dad wouldn’t mind, right?”

“Uh…” Jessica started.

“Thanks babe”, Josh said giving her a kiss on the cheek before sidestepping around her to go into the house. Jessica watched Camille and Ryan enter before she closed the door.

“So much for a peaceful walk on the beach”, Jessica grumbled and then forced a smile on her face as she turned to face her friends “you guys know where the pool is. I’ll grab some towels and be out in a minute”, she told them.

“Cool”, Camille said.

“You da best Jessie!” Ryan cheered pushing Camille toward the direction of the pool, Josh following after them.

“I see plans have changed then?” Pepper remarked as Jessica came over, flopping onto the sofa, face down.

“Yep”, she mumbled into the cushion.

“If you don’t want them here, there are ways to get them removed”, Pepper reminded her “isn’t that right JARVIS?”

 ** _“Absolutely Miss Potts. Miss Stark, would you like me to initiate the House Party Breakup Protocol?”_** the AI offered.

Jessica huffed and pushed herself up “I’m grateful for the offer JARIVS but I could do with the  distraction”, she said “though if you could keep an eye on the pool area while they’re here, I’d appreciated it”.

**_“Of course. Shall I tell your father that they’re here?”_ **

Jessica shook her head, standing up “No, I’ll let him know. Thank you JARVIS”, she said. So for the second time that day, she was heading back down to Tony’s workshop.

“You’re back quick”, Tony remarked.

“Never left”, Jessica said “Josh decided to changed the plans. Instead he brought Camille and Ryan here for a pool party”.

“Do you want them to be here?” Tony asked, noting that she looked less than pleased by it.

“Honestly? No, not particularly”, Jessica admitted “but I think having them here would be a good thing. It’ll keep my mind off of…stuff”.

“Alright. As long as you’re sure”, Tony said.

“Yeah I’m sure”, Jessica confirmed “and I’ve got JARVIS keeping an eye out”.

 ** _“She’s right, sir”_** , JARVIS spoke up.

“And don’t worry dad I’ll make sure they behave themselves”, Jessica assured him, squeezing his shoulder before she left. She headed up to one of the bathrooms to grab some towels before going to the pool. The ginger set the towels down on the nearest deckchair and slowly approached the pool.

“Come Jessie! Get in!” Camille urged from the shallower end of the pool. Josh was lazily floating on his back while Ryan stood next to Camille.

“Nah, I’m good thanks”, Jessica assured her trying not to eye the water nervously. The water torture coming to the forefront of her mind despite her attempts to push it back. She knew that the experience…which was putting it very mildly…was going to leave scars: physical, emotional and psychological. But she wasn’t about to show her friends how much it affected her. She didn’t need their pity or their sympathy. She just needed them to treat her like they always had.

“Sorry Jess, that answer doesn’t work for me”, Ryan said pulling himself out of the water.

“Ryan! No!” Jessica shrieked as he picked her up and tossed her into the water. As soon as she plunged into the chlorine saturated liquid, everything about being drowned came rushing to the surface. The ginger thrashed in the water, feeling many sets of hands on her shoulders forcing her down. Streams of bubbles emanated from her mouth as she cried out, flailing wildly around.

The rational part of her mind was telling her that nothing was holding her down, that she could swim to the surface. But none of that was even registering with her as the panic set in. Josh tried to grab her, to pull her to safety but she kept twisting out of his grip.

“Get her out!” Camille shouted at him  when he surfaced yet again without her. Even Ryan was struggling. Suddenly Tony burst into the room, not even slowing down as he dove into the water, going straight for his daughter. His presence seemed to calm her enough for him to swim her back to the surface.

Jessica clung onto Tony like a limpet as she took erratic breaths of air. Somehow Tony was able to get her out of the water, with her still holding onto him very tightly. “c-couldn’t break free…wasn’t strong enough…those hands all around…” Jessica rambled, not being able to form a coherent thought at that moment.

“It’s ok. Its ok Jessie. You’re safe”, Tony said in a calm soothing tone “they can’t hurt you anymore”. He looked up at the three teenagers as he rubbed his daughter’s back. “You three get dried and dressed”, Tony ordered “then we’re gonna have a little talk”. He gathered up Jessica and carried her out of the room.

“Oh my god! What happened?” Pepper asked practically jumping off sofa when she saw a soaking wet Tony carrying and equally wet Jessica.

“She had a little accident”, Tony replied “Would you mind coming upstairs with us?”

“Of course”, Pepper said. She followed Tony up to Jessica’s room where she grabbed the teenager a towel and some clean clothes.

“I’m gonna go talk to your friends”, Tony told Jessica as Pepper dried her off “be back in a minute”.

“Go easy on them”, Jessica said quietly “they didn’t know it would affect me”.

“No promises”, Tony said and then left the room.

\------------

“Mr Stark, I’m sorry”, Ryan said quickly when Tony walked down the stairs “I didn’t know she’d freak out like that. It was just a bit of fun”.

“Well, your ‘fun’ almost made my daughter drown”, Tony said, angrily “and you…” he turned to Josh “you should’ve stuck to your original plans. Now I want all three of you to leave, right now”.

Camille and Ryan headed toward the front door while Josh hung back. “Mr Stark I…” he began.

“Josh, leave”, Tony cut in “and I suggest you don’t come back for a few days. Jessie needs time to heal”. The dark haired teen nodded. As much as he wanted to stay to comfort his girlfriend, he knew that Tony was right. Jessica needed time to heal. He just hoped that whatever she went through, she’d be able to open up to him about it…eventually.

“Could you tell her that I’m sorry and that I said goodbye?” Josh said and Tony nodded. The teenager turned and left with his friends.  


	9. Therapy

 

Jessica sat on her bed, pillow clutched to her stomach, eyes trained on the person sitting on her desk chair. “Do you know why I’m here, Jessica?” the black man asked.

“Yes”, Jessica replied “you’re here because I had an…incident yesterday in the pool”.

“That’s right”, the man, Dr Andrew Garner, confirmed “now you don’t have to tell me absolutely everything. Just whatever you feel comfortable with”.

“I thought psychologists were supposed to want to know every little detail. And give some answer filled with psychobabble that’ll just make me even more confused”, Jessica said earning her a small laugh from Andrew.

“Usually that’s what we do but in your case, I don’t think it’s a good idea”, Andrew said “So tell me what happened”.

“My boyfriend, Josh and two of our friends Camille and Ryan came over yesterday. I wasn’t expecting them because Josh and I had planned to take a walk on the beach”, Jessica explained.

“Your father mentioned that you weren’t too happy about the change in plans”, Andrew said.

“Kind of an understatement. And instead of making them leave, I decided it was better if they stayed. It would help keep my mind off of things”, Jessica said “so we had a sort of pool party. They wanted me to get in but I couldn’t. Ryan thought it would be funny to throw me in. The second I hit the water everything came rushing back…” Jessica’s breath hitched and she held the pillow tighter “how those people held me under…how I tried to break free as I struggled for breath…” a tear rolled down her cheek “I felt so helpless and I hated it! I’m half angel for god’s sake! I should’ve been able to throw them off, easily but I couldn’t because Yinsen had drugged me!”

Jessica angrily threw her pillow across the room. “I’m sorry Dr Garner. I shouldn’t have done that”, the ginger said, quickly apologising.

“That’s quite alright Jessica”, Andrew said gently “I’ve have plenty of patients do something similar. Though they hardly ever apologised”.

“Its just…not like me to just lash out like that”, Jessica admitted.

“It an understandable reaction. For someone so strong, its rare for you to feel helpless…vulnerable. So when it happens, its quite a bit of a shock and you’ll need time to bounce back”, Andrew told her.

“And how long will it take for me to ‘bounce back’?” the teen questioned.

“I’m afraid I can’t give you an exact time period. It could be weeks or even months”, Andrew replied “and having set backs like the incident at the pool will make it take even longer”.

“How do I avoid having set-backs?” Jessica asked, ready to do anything if it meant she would be able to recover sooner.

“It wont be easy. The pool is just one thing that triggered an incident. There could be many more that may possibly affect you. So I would recommend you keep a record of when and where these happen”, Andrew suggested.

“What, like a diary or something?” Jessica asked.

“A diary is one way you could do it, yes”, Andrew agreed “I also believe that just this one talk isn’t going to be enough to help you. Therefore I am going to schedule you in for weekly sessions”. 

Outside Jessica’s door, Tony had his ear pressed against the wood trying to listen to the conversation going on inside. JARVIS refused to let him eavesdrop on the meeting so he resorted to the old fashioned way. “What do you think your doing?” Pepper hissed at him, pulling him away from the door “you shouldn’t be eavesdropping on them”.

“But…” Tony started.

“No buts”,  Pepper interrupted “What is said between Dr Garner and Jess, stays between them. So don’t try to get anything out of your daughter. She’ll tell you if or when she’s ready, is that understood?”

Tony nodded, a little afraid of the protective tone in her voice. Admittedly it was one of the reasons that he kept Pepper on as his assistant for so long. She was so good with Jessica, taking on the role of protective mother without any hesitation. “So come on, let’s leave them to it”, Pepper said taking his arm and leading him away “perhaps you can go finish that new chest piece of yours. Just don’t ask me to help you install it because I won’t do it”.

\-----------------

A few hours later, Jessica headed down to the workshop to see how her dad was doing with the new chest piece. What she found was him sitting in a chair much like you’d have at the Doctor’s office, several wires stuck to him which were attached to machines to monitor your vitals.

“Good timing Jess! I was about to ask you for help”, Tony said.

“Help with…what?” Jessica asked cautiously approaching him.

“I was trying to install this” Tony held up his new chest piece “but there’s a copper wire I need to shift first…and my uh hands are too big”.

“You want me to reach into your chest and pull out a wire?” Jessica questioned making sure she hadn’t misheard him.

“Yeah”, Tony replied.

“And Pepper wasn’t available to help you out with this?” Jessica queried.

“Well, she basically told me she wasn’t going to help which leaves my very smart and beautiful daughter”, Tony said.

“You don’t have to butter me up dad, I’ll do it”, Jessica said. She took a breath and moved her hand to the circular opening in his chest.

“Don’t let it touch the metal”, Tony warned.

“I won’t”, Jessica promised. She cringed when she reached inside, her fingers came into contact with something rather gross. She pushed aside the feeling of wanting to puke and continued on until she felt the wire.

“You got it?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, I got it”, Jessica confirmed. She lightly gripped it and then slowly proceeded to extract it. “Ok, now what?” she asked.

“Now, cut it”, Tony answered “there’s some pl-“ he broke off when he saw Jessica holding the wire, the tip glowing a little bit, indicating that she’d just used her power to break the wire “or you could do that”.

“I’m guessing we put this thing in now”, Jessica stated plucking the new chest piece from him.

“Yes that’s now going to go in. Attach it to the base plate and I’ll do the rest”, Tony said.

Jessica nodded “ok” she reached in and connected the new chest piece to the baseplate as Tony had instructed. Once she’d done that, Tony took over and secured it into the metal housing that was planted in his chest.

“Ugh I’m gonna have to wash my hands at least 20 times”, Jessica said wrinkling her nose at the smell of the gunk on her fingers as she frantically wiped them onto a towel that was on the table next to Tony’s old chest piece. “What do you want to do with this?” she asked, nodding to it.

“Destroy it”, Tony replied pulling the wires off of himself and getting up from the chair.

“You don’t want to keep it?” Jessica questioned “Circumstances aside, this is your first mini arc reactor. That’s ground breaking stuff”.

“No, I don’t”, Tony answered.

“Alright then. Just thought I’d ask”, Jessica said, dropping the towel onto the table and picked up the old chest piece. She started to head back to the door of the work shop when Tony spoke up.

“How did the session go with Dr Garner go?”

Jessica turned back “It went well. He’s a really cool guy. He doesn’t make you talk about anything you’re not ready for. And I’ve scheduled another session with him next week”, the ginger explained.

“That’s good”, Tony said “say…are you busy for the next few hours?”

“Uh, no I’m not”, Jessica answered “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I thought that we could do something together. A father-daughter thing”, Tony suggested.

“What did you have in mind?” the teenager questioned setting the chest piece down.

“I haven’t got a particular thing in mind. Just figured we take a drive and see what takes our fancy”, Tony said.

“Something spontaneous”, Jessica stated “sounds good to me. We gonna go now?”

“Yep”, Tony replied popping the p. He walked over to his long line of cars “So which will it be?”

Jessica joined him and studied the vehicles “the red Ferrari”, she replied.

“The red Ferrari it is”

The pair hopped into the car and Tony started it up. They drove off, up the ramp to reach the street above.


	10. a tour of spontaneity

“Oh! Another strike for me!” Jessica cheered, doing a little dance on the spot. Tony chuckled at her antics. It was nice to see her laughing and having a good time, especially after their ordeal. He watched her bowl two more times, whooping in victory as she won.

“Congrats Jess”, he said standing up.

“Thanks. But I have the feeling you didn’t try very hard”, Jessica said, turning to him.

“I played to the best of my ability”, Tony said, defending himself.

Jessica laughed “Yeah, ok dad”, she said, patting him on the shoulder, not believing him “so where’s our next stop on this tour of spontaneity?”

“I don’t know about you but I’m starving”, Tony replied.

“Food it is”, Jessica agreed. This decision brought them to the nearest restaurant where they spent a good couple of hours laughing and joking over a large pizza. “You know, I think that waitress is checking you out”, the ginger said to her father quietly, nodding to the blonde who was trying but failing to look at them discretely.

“Is she?” Tony asked, not even bothering to look around.

“Yep”, Jessica confirmed “wanna get her number?”

“Nope”, Tony said, surprising his daughter “there’s only one young lady I want to pay attention right now and she’s sitting across from me”. Jessica who was taking a sip of her drink at the time, smiled around her straw.

After the bill was paid, Tony leaving a generous tip as well, the pair left the restaurant. As they walked to the car, Jessica jumped onto her father’s back. He stumbled a little before managing to regain his balance and carrying her piggyback style toward the red Ferrari, neither of them paying any attention to the numerous photographs that were being taken.

\--------------

“I had a lot of fun today”, Jessica said as Tony drove the car down the ramp and parked it next to the others.

“Me too”, Tony agreed. Admittedly it had been a while since they’d done anything together so this was pretty enjoyable.

“We should do something spontaneous more often”, the ginger said.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that”, Tony remarked. Jessica hopped out of the Ferrari and headed toward the door of the workshop, picking up Tony’s old chest piece on the way. She had an idea of what to do with it. Yes, her dad said he didn’t want to keep it but she couldn’t throw it away. She took it up to her room, powered up her laptop and started her search for the perfect container for it.

It took about a couple of hours before she found the right display case which included a holder that you can engrave a message onto it. Jessica’s fingers poised over the keyboard as she deliberated what to write. She smiled when she thought up of the perfect thing. Jessica typed in the message and hit the ‘buy’ icon. She sat back, happy that she’d gotten the perfect thing for his chest piece to go into.

The next morning when Jessica came downstairs, she found that her dad wasn’t there. “Where’s dad?” she asked Pepper as she wandered into the kitchen to get herself some food.

“He’s gone to visit Rhodey”, she replied.

“Visit or torment?” Jessica questioned with a grin.

“Knowing Tony…probably a little of both”, Pepper answered.

“Well, as my dad isn’t here, do you want to do something?” Jessica asked moving over to the coffee pot and pouring the liquid into the nearby mug.

“I wish I could but Tony…” Pepper started when Jessica gently cut in with

“My dad isn’t here Pepper, so whatever he needs you to do, it can wait. With what happened in Afghanistan, I completely missed your birthday so let me make it up to you”

“You don’t have to do that”, Pepper said.

“Yes, I do”, Jessica insisted “you and I have done a little something for your birthday every single year and this time isn’t any different”.

“What did you have in mind?” Pepper asked and Jessica grinned again.

“Shopping and lunch on me”, the teenager answered. The pair then had their breakfast, Jessica telling Pepper about what she was planning on doing with her dad’s chest piece. The older woman definitely approved and admitted that she would’ve suggested something similar if Jessica hadn’t beaten her to it. Jessica had literally finished her coffee when JARVIS spoke up.

**_Miss Stark there’s a Mr Lockwood at the front door for you_. _Shall I send him away?_**

“No, I’ll talk to him”, Jessica said “thanks JARIVS”. She got up from the table and headed to the front door. She opened the front door and was met with a large bouquet of roses. The flowers were shifted aside to reveal her boyfriend.

“Hi Jess”, he greeted.

“Hey”, Jessica said. She moved aside to allow him to enter.

“These are for you”, Josh said holding the flowers out “Ryan and Camille chipped in too. We all felt bad for what happened the other day”.

Jessica took them from him “About that…do you want to go for a walk?” she asked “there are some things I need to tell you”.

“Ok”, Josh said. Jessica set the flowers down on the sofa.

“JARIVS, tell Pepper I’m heading out for a bit”, she said to the AI.

**_Of course. Have a good walk_ **

\------------

Jessica and Josh walked on the beach, their shoes making footprints in the sand. The ginger took a deep breath before she spoke. “In the three months we’d been held hostage, I was subjected to a lot of…things” she stopped walking “One of which included being drowned”.

Josh looked at her, guilt written on his face. “Jess I’m sorry. If I’d known…” he started

“It’s ok. You didn’t know”, Jessica said “I just wanted to explain why I freaked out so bad”.

Josh took her hand “and now that I know, we’ll avoid the pool for as long as you want. Heck, I’ll insist to everyone to call the pool, the-thing-that-mustn’t-be-named”. Jessica giggled at that earning a smile from her boyfriend. He touched her face “I’ve missed that laugh”, he remarked softly.

Jessica gazed into his warm brown eyes for a few moments before she kissed him. Josh didn’t hesitate to kiss her back, settling his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to him. Jessica moaned into his mouth when his tongue slipped into hers. Eventually they parted, both breathing heavily. “I _want_ you”, Josh panted pressing her forehead against hers.

The implication was not lost on her. “Me too”, Jessica murmured. Josh gave her a chaste kiss before taking her hand. They  pair headed back to her house as quickly as humanely possible, both eager to continue in the safe confines of her room.

The second her bedroom door was closed, they were on each other. While lip locked, Josh picked her up, Jessica’s legs wrapping around her waist as he carried her to the bed. He pulled away to remove her shirt. “I hate them”, Jessica said quietly as Josh took in the scars “they’re so ugly”.

“Not they’re not”, Josh said softly “they’re beautiful. They show that you’re a survivor”. He then pressed featherlight kisses to each of them. Jessica closed her eyes, reaching up to grasp her pillow, loving her lips on his skin.

She opened them when he pulled away to tug the duvet over them, covering their bodies. Josh then settled back between her legs and continued caressing her skin with his lips. Pretty soon the rest of their clothing followed Jessica’s shirt onto the floor. Josh kissed Jessica and proceeded to make love to her.


	11. Flight Stabiliser

 

**AN: sorry it’s taken so long to update.**

The next few days after Josh’s visit, Jessica had noticed that her father had been spending more and more time in his workshop. When she asked about it, Tony told her that he was working on something important which she wasn’t allowed to see, yet. Though that had annoyed her as she figured his project would go a lot quicker with her help, Jessica respected his wishes. That is until she heard a loud crash.

Jessica bolted from the sofa and ran down to the workshop. “Dad are you ok?” she asked helping him up from the floor.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, Tony groaned.

“I’ll be the judge of that”, Jessica said and lead him over to a chair. She examined his head for a moment before carefully placing her hand on his forehead. She kept it there for a moment while her healing powers worked and then moved it away. “Now do you want to tell me what you’re working on?”

“I’m working on a suit. Something for defence and protection”, Tony answered.

“I thought you were done with making weapons”, Jessica said, standing up.

“It’s not a weapon Jess”, Tony insisted “not as such…”

“So it is still a weapon”, Jessica said.

“No! It’s not…it’s…” Tony sighed “let me show you”. He went over to his hologram table and brought up the Mark II suit. Jessica had to admit she was pretty impressed by it. “That group who had us in Afghanistan can’t by the whole terrorist cell. There has to be more of them out there with my weapons, ruining many innocent lives”

“And you’re making this suit to stop them”, Jessica stated.

“Yes”, Tony confirmed.

“Well, you can’t use those hand controls”, Jessica said plucking a bit out of the hologram and tossing it in the ‘bin’. Tony stood back and watched as she tweaked his design with a proud smile on his face. “What do you think?” she asked stepping back to show him the hand flight stabiliser she’d made.

“I think it’s prefect”, Tony replied. The two then got to work making Jessica’s design a reality.

\-----------

“Ok, easy does it”, Tony said to his daughter as she secured the flight stabiliser around his arm.

Jessica shot him a look “have a little more faith in me dad, I know what I’m doing”, she said “besides, you taught me remember?”

“True”, Tony conceded.

“Hello Pepper”, Jessica greeted, hearing her enter the workshop. The older ginger set down a box wrapped in brown paper onto a worktop as well as two cups of coffee.

“Hello, you two”, Pepper greeted. She then frowned at the device around Tony’s arm “I thought you were done making weapons?”

“It’s not a weapon Pepper”, Jessica replied, checking the screws “if it were, I wouldn’t be helping him”.

“She’s right”, Tony agreed. He carefully lifted his arm up “this is a flight stabiliser. It’s completely harmless”, he assured his assistant. Jessica and Pepper watched him press a button and the stabiliser powered up. The teenager quickly grabbed her father as he was thrown backward by the stabiliser’s blast. “Thanks Jess, I wasn’t expecting that”, he admitted.

“Obadiah is upstairs”, Pepper said staring at Tony. She then quickly headed back upstairs.

“Go see what he wants”, Jessica said removing the flight stabiliser from her father’s arm “I’ll deal with this”. Tony nodded and left the workshop. Jessica placed the device onto the table. “Ok, what’s wrong with you?” she murmured, leaning down to eye the flight stabiliser. She picked up a small tool and began to tinker with the device.

Several minutes later, Tony came back down, carrying two slices of pizza. “How did it go?” Jessica asked looking up at him.

“I’ve got an injunction filed against me by the board of directors”, Tony replied, holding out a slice of pizza to her.

“Seriously? They wanna lock you out just because you’ve stopped making weapons?” Jessica asked taking a bite from her slice “doesn’t seem fair. Maybe I should talk some sense into those stuffed shirts”.

Tony chuckled at the image of his daughter putting those ‘stuffed shirts’ as she put it, in their place “as much as I’d like to see that, there’s no need. Obadiah will sort it out”, he said.

“Well, if he’s not successful then I’ll deal with them”, Jessica promised and took another bite of pizza “but while we’re waiting, I’ve tinkered with the flight stabiliser and I believe I’ve sorted out the problem”.

“Let me see”, Tony checked over her work and nodded “looks like you have sorted the problem. The proof is in the pudding…or in the device”. Jessica helped him put the device around his arm, securing it with the screws. She then watched him power it up and thankfully it didn’t blast him backwards. “It works”, he stated.

“Then lets get started on the other one”, Jessica said. Over the next few hours the pair worked on the secondary flight stabiliser, that is until the teenager started to doze off at the work table.

“Come on, let’s get you upstairs”, Tony said, settling his tools down.

“Don’t wanna”, Jessica mumbled sleepily, trying to bat him away which only served to make him chuckle. Tony gathered his daughter in his arms and carried her up the stairs to her bedroom.

“Goodnight angel”, he said as he pulled the duvet over her.

“Night, night daddy”, Jessica mumbled “love you”.

A smile appeared on Tony’s face at that. He leant in a pressed a light kiss to her forehead “I love you too”, he said quietly. He then headed back down to his workshop to continue on the second flight stabiliser. Once he’d finished the work, Tony opened the brown paper parcel and another smile appeared on his face. Inside was a small display case with his old mini arc reactor, set in a little stand. There was also an engraving on it.

_Proof that Tony Stark has a heart_

A card was attached to the brown paper.

_Dad_

_I know you wanted to throw it out but I couldn’t._

_Now everyone can see what I know, that you have a heart._

_Lots of love_

_Your angel_

_Jess_

_XX_


End file.
